Is VIES down right now?

The table at the top of this page is the answer, read from the Commission’s check-status endpoint within the last ten minutes: the relay line says whether VIES itself answers, and each member state line says whether its national register does. Most of the time the relay is up and one or two states are not.

What does MS_UNAVAILABLE mean?

That the member state named by the VAT number’s prefix did not answer the Commission’s relay. It is not a verdict on the number. Serve your last dated answer for it or retry later; Veriport does the first automatically for numbers it validated in the last 30 days and tells you so in source.

How long do VIES outages last?

Member-state episodes typically last minutes to a few hours (maintenance windows and overnight batches); whole-relay outages are rarer and shorter. The episodes list above gives the measured durations for the last 30 days; the CSV gives 90.

Can I be notified when a member state goes down?

Subscribe to the Atom feed at /vies-status/atom.xml: one entry per episode, updated when the episode ends. There is no e-mail alert.

Is this the official VIES status page?

No. Veriport is published by Janolab Studio LLC and is not affiliated with the European Commission; the official self-monitoring page is on ec.europa.eu, and this page records what that service reports.

How is availability measured, exactly?

Each probe is one call to the check-status endpoint; its answer (relay available or not, each member state available or not) is stored once per 5-minute window. A state’s 24-hour or 30-day figure is the share of probes in the window in which it answered. No test VAT number is validated for the measurement, so the record costs VIES nothing.

Is VIES down? VIES availability by member state, last 24 hours and 30 days

VIES is one relay at the European Commission in front of 27 national registers, so « VIES is down » usually means one member state is not answering while the others are. This page shows what the Commission’s own check-status endpoint reports right now for each member state, keeps a record of those answers (one probe every 5 to 10 minutes, kept 90 days), lists the outage episodes, and explains each VIES error code with what Veriport’s validation API returns in that case. The record is downloadable as CSV and the episodes as an Atom feed.

Published 2026-10-28

The source is the Commission’s check-status endpoint of the VIES REST API: the availability of each national component (« MSA availability » on the Commission’s self-monitoring page), not a synthetic test number.
The record is measured here, not quoted: probes from the status page, from GET /api/v1/status and from a ten-minute cron are written into one row per 5-minute window and kept indefinitely, so the history only grows; the free download reaches back 90 days.
When a member state is unavailable, a VAT number validated here in the last 30 days is answered from the dated cache and marked stale; a number never seen gets a 503 that is not counted.
Availability means the national component answered the relay. A state can be « available » and still answer INVALID for a number that is registered domestically only; that is a VIES answer, not an outage.

VIES is up; 3 member states are not answering: LT, LV, RO

relay answering

Commission check-status endpoint fetched 2026-11-07 21:09 UTC; record: 152 probes in 24 h, 1480 in 30 days, since 2026-10-29; every probe is kept, the download reaches back 90 days.

Member state	Now	Last 24 h	Last 30 days	Last seen unavailable
VIES relay (the Commission)	answering	97.4 %	98.6 %	2026-11-07 10:10 UTC
Austria AT	● answered	100.0 %	100.0 %	—
Belgium BE	● answered	100.0 %	92.1 %	2026-11-04 16:10 UTC
Bulgaria BG	● answered	100.0 %	100.0 %	—
Cyprus CY	● answered	100.0 %	99.5 %	2026-11-03 20:00 UTC
Czechia CZ	● answered	98.6 %	98.3 %	2026-11-07 09:30 UTC
Germany DE	● answered	87.8 %	88.3 %	2026-11-07 01:10 UTC
Denmark DK	● answered	100.0 %	95.7 %	2026-11-06 08:20 UTC
Estonia EE	● answered	99.3 %	99.9 %	2026-11-07 09:30 UTC
Greece EL	● answered	100.0 %	95.8 %	2026-11-04 05:10 UTC
Spain ES	● answered	100.0 %	99.8 %	2026-11-04 15:00 UTC
Finland FI	● answered	100.0 %	100.0 %	—
France FR	● answered	99.3 %	99.6 %	2026-11-07 09:30 UTC
Croatia HR	● answered	100.0 %	99.8 %	2026-10-29 07:20 UTC
Hungary HU	● answered	100.0 %	99.7 %	2026-10-29 07:20 UTC
Ireland IE	● answered	100.0 %	99.9 %	2026-11-04 19:20 UTC
Italy IT	● answered	100.0 %	99.9 %	2026-11-05 08:10 UTC
Lithuania LT	○ unavailable	53.4 %	91.8 %	2026-11-07 21:09 UTC
Luxembourg LU	● answered	100.0 %	100.0 %	—
Latvia LV	○ unavailable	93.2 %	83.2 %	2026-11-07 21:09 UTC
Malta MT	● answered	99.3 %	99.7 %	2026-11-07 10:20 UTC
Netherlands NL	● answered	100.0 %	99.9 %	2026-11-01 05:30 UTC
Poland PL	● answered	100.0 %	97.4 %	2026-11-04 15:50 UTC
Portugal PT	● answered	100.0 %	100.0 %	—
Romania RO	○ unavailable	52.7 %	95.0 %	2026-11-07 21:09 UTC
Sweden SE	● answered	100.0 %	98.7 %	2026-11-04 09:10 UTC
Slovenia SI	● answered	100.0 %	100.0 %	—
Slovakia SK	● answered	100.0 %	100.0 %	—

Percentages: share of probes in the window in which the national component answered the relay. At the last stored probe, unavailable: LT, LV, RO.

Outage episodes, last 30 days

Atom feed

Latvia (LV) unavailable in VIES since 2026-11-07 20:30 UTC (ongoing)6 probes · ongoing
Lithuania (LT) unavailable in VIES since 2026-11-07 10:20 UTC (ongoing)69 probes · ongoing
Malta (MT) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-07 10:20 UTC for 10 min1 probe
VIES relay unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-07 09:40 UTC for 40 min4 probes
Estonia (EE) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-07 09:30 UTC for 50 min1 probe
France (FR) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-07 09:30 UTC for 50 min1 probe
Romania (RO) unavailable in VIES since 2026-11-07 09:30 UTC (ongoing)70 probes · ongoing
Czechia (CZ) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-07 09:20 UTC for 60 min2 probes
Latvia (LV) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-07 02:00 UTC for 20 min2 probes
Latvia (LV) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-07 01:30 UTC for 20 min2 probes
Germany (DE) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-06 22:20 UTC for 180 min18 probes
Denmark (DK) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-06 08:00 UTC for 27 min3 probes
Denmark (DK) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-06 07:00 UTC for 30 min3 probes
Denmark (DK) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-06 06:20 UTC for 30 min3 probes
Latvia (LV) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-06 02:50 UTC for 10 min1 probe
Denmark (DK) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-06 02:30 UTC for 50 min5 probes
Germany (DE) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-05 22:20 UTC for 160 min18 probes
Latvia (LV) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-05 19:50 UTC for 190 min19 probes
France (FR) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-05 11:49 UTC for 27 min5 probes
Italy (IT) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-05 08:00 UTC for 20 min2 probes
Denmark (DK) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-05 05:30 UTC for 360 min39 probes
Czechia (CZ) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-05 05:00 UTC for 230 min22 probes
Lithuania (LT) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 22:30 UTC for 500 min50 probes
Germany (DE) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 22:20 UTC for 180 min18 probes
Ireland (IE) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 19:20 UTC for 10 min1 probe
Malta (MT) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 19:20 UTC for 10 min1 probe
Czechia (CZ) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 18:50 UTC for 10 min1 probe
Latvia (LV) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 18:30 UTC for 830 min83 probes
Romania (RO) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 18:30 UTC for 30 min3 probes
VIES relay unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 18:00 UTC for 10 min1 probe
VIES relay unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 17:10 UTC for 10 min1 probe
Belgium (BE) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 15:50 UTC for 30 min3 probes
VIES relay unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 15:10 UTC for 10 min1 probe
Spain (ES) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 14:30 UTC for 50 min3 probes
VIES relay unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 10:50 UTC for 10 min1 probe
Poland (PL) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 09:30 UTC for 390 min38 probes
Sweden (SE) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 06:20 UTC for 180 min19 probes
Germany (DE) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 05:20 UTC for 10 min1 probe
VIES relay unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 05:00 UTC for 10 min1 probe
Malta (MT) unavailable in VIES from 2026-11-04 03:30 UTC for 20 min2 probes

Download the record: probes as CSV (30 days; ?days=90 for the whole record), daily summary, or GET /api/v1/status for the current table as JSON. CC BY 4.0, no key.

How to read the record

The table at the top reads one line per member state: the answer of the last probe (● answered, ○ did not), the share of probes in the last 24 hours and the last 30 days in which the state answered, and the time of the last probe that found it unavailable. A probe in which the relay itself did not answer reports no member state and counts for none of them; it counts against the relay’s own line.

Percentages are shares of probes, not minutes: with a probe every 5 to 10 minutes an outage shorter than that can be missed, and an episode is measured from the first probe that saw it to the first probe that saw the state back. Read a 30-day figure under 99 % as « expect several hours of unavailability a month for this state » and plan the degraded path accordingly.

The episodes list is derived from the same probes: one entry per run of consecutive probes in which a state (or the relay) did not answer, newest first, with its duration. An episode without an end is still open at the last probe.

The VIES error codes, and what Veriport returns

The REST API carries the code in userError; the SOAP service in the fault string. The right column is the behaviour of GET /vat/validate for each code, in force since the first release and documented in the reference.

VIES code	What VIES means by it	What Veriport returns
`MS_UNAVAILABLE`	The member state’s national component did not answer the Commission’s relay (maintenance window, overload, incident). The other states keep answering.	A 200 with the answer obtained for the same number in the last 30 days, `source.kind: "cache"`, `source.stale: true`, `upstream.status: "member_state_unavailable"`; without one, a 503 `vies_unavailable` with `retryAfter: 30`, not counted.
`MS_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ`	Too many requests are in flight for that member state; the relay refuses new ones for a while.	The cached answer when one exists (`upstream.status: "member_state_unavailable"`); otherwise a 503 `vies_blocked` with `retryAfter: 60`, not counted. The API paces its own upstream calls so that one caller’s batch does not trigger it for everyone.
`GLOBAL_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ`	Too many requests are in flight on the whole service, every member state included.	The cached answer when one exists (`upstream.status: "service_unavailable"`); otherwise a 503 `vies_blocked` with `retryAfter: 60`, not counted.
`SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE`	The Commission’s relay itself failed (an HTTP 5xx or an explicit service error): no member state can be asked.	The REST call is retried once over the SOAP service; if both fail, the cached answer when one exists (`upstream.status: "service_unavailable"`), otherwise a 503 `vies_unavailable`, `retryAfter: 30`, not counted.
`TIMEOUT`	The relay or the member state took too long. VIES returns it as such; a client also sees it as its own socket timeout.	Each transport waits 8 seconds, REST then SOAP; after that, the cached answer when one exists (`upstream.status: "timeout"`), otherwise a 503 `vies_unavailable`, not counted.
`INVALID_INPUT`	The country code or the number is malformed for that member state (wrong length, wrong characters).	Almost never reached: the structure and the national check digit are checked before VIES is called, and an impossible number answers 200 `valid: false` with `upstream.status: "not_called"`. If VIES still refuses the input, a 400 `invalid_parameter` names the parameter; nothing is counted.
`INVALID_REQUESTER_INFO`	The requester VAT number (the one you identify yourself with for a consultation number) is malformed.	A 400 `invalid_parameter` on `requester`, not counted. The requester is checked structurally before the call too.
`IP_BLOCKED, VAT_BLOCKED`	The Commission blocked the calling address, or the number asked for, because of the request pattern.	A 503 `vies_blocked` with `retryAfter: 60`, not counted, and an operator alert: this is the one code the pacing exists to avoid.

Why does one member state go dark while the others answer?

Because VIES is federated: the Commission runs the central relay and each member state runs, maintains and is legally responsible for its own national component (European Commission, VIES help page and self-monitoring page). National systems have their own maintenance windows (several run overnight batches), their own capacity and their own incidents; the relay forwards each query and reports MS_UNAVAILABLE when the state does not answer. The Commission’s help page announces the scheduled unavailability shifts; unscheduled ones appear only in the self-monitoring table, which is what this page records.

The busiest periods are the worst: filing deadlines and year-end closes, when invoicing systems run their batches, are when the concurrency codes (MS_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ, GLOBAL_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ) appear. Pace your batches, and validate at onboarding rather than at the moment of invoicing when you can.

What others have measured

The only published per-state figures we know of are Fonoa’s snapshot of 10–13 January 2023, a period Fonoa itself calls particularly bad: Belgium and Germany unavailable about 32 % of the time, Romania about 9.8 %, Bulgaria about 9.5 %, and seven member states above 5 % over those three days; Fonoa adds that Germany is persistently down compared with other jurisdictions (Fonoa, page last updated 16 July 2026, read 2026-10-28). Those are a vendor’s numbers over three days; the record above is ours, continuous, and says over which window it was measured.

The Commission publishes no historical statistics; its self-monitoring page shows the current state of each national component. That is why this record exists.

The record as data

Three machine-readable forms, free, no key, not counted against any quota: the probes as CSV (one row per probe, one column per member state) at /vies-status/availability.csv with ?days=1..90 (30 by default) and ?summary=daily for one row per day and member state; the episodes as an Atom feed at /vies-status/atom.xml; the current table as JSON inside GET /api/v1/status (20 calls a day without a key, one a second). The CSV is published under CC BY 4.0: quote it with the window and the date.

Questions

Is VIES down right now?: The table at the top of this page is the answer, read from the Commission’s check-status endpoint within the last ten minutes: the relay line says whether VIES itself answers, and each member state line says whether its national register does. Most of the time the relay is up and one or two states are not.
What does MS_UNAVAILABLE mean?: That the member state named by the VAT number’s prefix did not answer the Commission’s relay. It is not a verdict on the number. Serve your last dated answer for it or retry later; Veriport does the first automatically for numbers it validated in the last 30 days and tells you so in source.
How long do VIES outages last?: Member-state episodes typically last minutes to a few hours (maintenance windows and overnight batches); whole-relay outages are rarer and shorter. The episodes list above gives the measured durations for the last 30 days; the CSV gives 90.
Can I be notified when a member state goes down?: Subscribe to the Atom feed at /vies-status/atom.xml: one entry per episode, updated when the episode ends. There is no e-mail alert.
Is this the official VIES status page?: No. Veriport is published by Janolab Studio LLC and is not affiliated with the European Commission; the official self-monitoring page is on ec.europa.eu, and this page records what that service reports.
How is availability measured, exactly?: Each probe is one call to the check-status endpoint; its answer (relay available or not, each member state available or not) is stored once per 5-minute window. A state’s 24-hour or 30-day figure is the share of probes in the window in which it answered. No test VAT number is validated for the measurement, so the record costs VIES nothing.

When a member state is down, the API answers from the dated cache and says so; 20 calls a day without a key.

Validate with the degraded path built in

Sources

VIES — Self-monitoring: availability of each national component (MSA / XI availability), the data behind the check-status endpoint — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-28. The Commission runs the central relay; each member state runs and maintains its own national component, which is why one state can be unavailable while the others answer.
VIES — help page: what the consultation number proves, member-state availability — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24
VIES REST API — check-vat-number, check-status (technical information) — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24
VIES — VAT Information Exchange System: FAQ and VAT number structures (Q11) — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24
Fonoa — "VIES is having issues (again)": measured VIES downtime per member state over 10–13 January 2023 (Belgium ~32 %, Germany ~32 %, Romania ~9.8 %, Bulgaria ~9.5 %; seven countries above 5 %; Germany persistently down compared with other jurisdictions) — Fonoa (vendor), consulted 2026-10-28. A vendor’s three-day snapshot, labelled by Fonoa as a particularly bad period; the page shows "last update July 16, 2026". Quoted as the only published per-state figures; Veriport’s own record on /vies-status is measured, not quoted.